1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to radio paging receivers and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method for generating an alert in a radio paging receiver.
2. Description of the Related Art
A radio paging receiver receives and analyzes a radio paging signal in a specific form. Upon the detection of self information from the received paging signal, the radio paging receiver displays the paging information (or message) and generates an alert. The self information is information which identifies the received paging signal as being associated with the radio paging receiver. Typically, the paging information is displayed on a liquid crystal display (LCD) and the alert is provided to the user through a speaker to notify the user that he or she has been paged.
Conventionally, in order to generate the alert for informing the user that paging information has been received, a decoder or an additional alert signal generator has been used. An example of such a decoder is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,287,099, entitled "Multi-Alert Radio Paging System". Referring to FIG. 1 herein, a block diagram of a conventional decoder is shown. The conventional decoder includes an alert mode controller 404 and an alert pattern generator 405 to generate the alert.
Referring to FIG. 2, a conventional paging receiver which includes an alert signal generator 192 is shown. If a determination has been made by a decoder 120 indicating that self information has been received, a microcontroller 150 generates the alert by controlling alert signal generator 192. The alert is output to the exterior through an alert unit 190.
On the other hand, in order to generate the alert using decoder 120, the elements for generating the alert must be included in the decoder. The frequency required to generate the alert is typically 2.7 or 3.2 KHz. If an incorrect frequency is used, the alert may not be generated normally. In the worst case, the decoder may need to be replaced with a new one.
Thus, in order for the conventional radio receiver to generate the alert using alert signal generator 192, the conventional radio receiver must employ alert generator 192 operatively connected between microcontroller 150 and alert unit 190. However, the use of alert signal generator 192 increases the complexity, cost, and size of the radio paging receiver in which it is employed.